“No worse than at Hogwarts” - prospective students talk about IT
Photo: NTI Olympiad
On the street only talk that about football and entering universities. And it became especially interesting to us how the former schoolchildren present the world of IT, who are now going to study as programmers. We found a few random guys and chatted a bit with them. Read and write to them what you would say to yourself as eighteen.
Heroes:
- Danil Myachin lives in Tomsk. He is the owner of the first dan and black belt in Aikido, a dancer, musician, swordsman, robotics, a lover of sports programming, a regular participant in local CTF competitions (and, probably, spiderman, I would not be surprised). Danil graduated from Tomsk State University of Physics and Technology and is now going to go to Moscow to enter the Faculty of Computer Science at the Higher School of Economics, where he is ready to take him without entrance examinations.
- Victoria lives in Tambov, studies at the lyceum and from childhood is fond of robots. She went to the first competition already at the age of 12, and at 15 she took the second place at Robofest - one of the largest festivals in Russia. Since then, she participates every year in All-Russian Robotics Olympiads and prepares for admission to ITMO.
- Alexey from Puchezh - a small town on the banks of the Volga in the Ivanovo region. Up to grade 9, he studied for three-fours, played video games, was an ordinary schoolboy, loved Big Bang Theory, rock, metal, indie and punk. Then on computer science I tried Pascal and started. Sat down at the books on programming, wildly overtook the program. By the 11th grade, I generally stopped going to computer science and still passed the exam on it to 97 points. Now Alexey enters the ISEU at the computer software department.
- Lena lives in a village in the Saratov region, loves cinema - drama and fiction, reads a lot and prefers to walk somewhere where there are fewer people. Now he is going to go to St. Petersburg and enter ITMO.
- Another Danil enters the Moscow State University at the VMK. He lives in a small town, loves anime, Chinese and Korean adventure books with elements of philosophy. Teaches courses python, html, css. In life, Danil had a hard time - for several years he struggled with cancer and a year ago was able to overcome it.
- Katerina lives in Moscow and wants to study here, at Moscow State University, at the VMK. She graduated from the physics and mathematics school, mastered the basics of programming in python. At the same time she loves literature, writes poetry and even dreams of putting on a Broadway musical, for which she has already invented a plot.
Why do you want to IT and how long?
Alexey : Many guys go to this area, because it is now prestigious and in demand. I am not one of them. I want to go to IT because it is fate. Previously, I absolutely did not know who I want to become. A cook, a fireman (like my father), even a doctor. Not that I would like in these professions, just need to go somewhere.
But I started to code, after a couple of months I won the municipal stage of the programming Olympiad and I was sent to the region. Then I realized what I really want to be.
Katerina : Parents work in the field of IT, they strongly advised this direction. I like that it is modern and relevant. It seems to me that my abilities can be used here. Yes, and Physics and Mathematics in the preparation for the receipt of the specialty.
Danil: Class from the fifth. Conversations with his father pushed for this. Later he wanted to, because programming is interesting.
Lena : In the ninth grade, when I accidentally decided to prepare a few simple olympiad tasks in computer science, the thought came that maybe it was mine.
Every time when I sit on the Internet or even touch on the topic of computers, I feel that this can be a great practical application.
D.M. : It all came from the teacher in the lyceum, she instilled a love for the subject. I used to plan to be an engineer. I did not like it, but it worked.
I once did the programming of Arduino (then I first coded something), and the construction of a single device. Then I realized that, of course, I like to work with my hands, but still I like to develop the “brains” of the device more than to make and model it.
Then I enrolled in javarush courses (it did not go), but from the new school year we began to study the advantages in the lyceum, and I was straight forward.
Workplace Danila Myachina
Why precisely university? Not independently, on courses or immediately in practice?
Danil : I want to strengthen the foundation and make many acquaintances.
Lena : To be honest, I realized in middle grades that self-study was always more productive. There are a lot of special literature, you can always find something for your level. I go to university only because of my opinion, which was influenced by the opinion of other people, that without higher education it is much more difficult to find a job.
Katia : Higher education is now a prerequisite for most employers.
Vic : I believe that when training you need to communicate with experts directly.
D.M. : 1. Army (everything is clear here).
2. Environment.
3. Teachers.
4. Any control
5. Together to learn more fun
Alex : In the university you can find a bunch of new friends with the same interests. You can get used to the "urban rhythm of life." For me, this is important, because moving from my small town to large will certainly be difficult, I am not used to the hustle and bustle of big cities. Well, somewhere without everyone’s beloved army ... And so, I always studied on my own and would not stop doing it, even when I was studying in a university.
What experience and knowledge do you already have?
D.M. : I had a project "Automated device for stacking photos." The essence of what, if briefly. When the camera shoots very small things, it cannot take the whole thing into focus (the laws of physics). I made a moving device to which the unit was attached. Stepper motor, shield for it and Arduino Mega.
The device advanced the camera and took photos, then these photos in the program (not mine) turned into one with a focus on the whole photo. Imagine that “+” is a place where there is a focus, “-” is a place where there is no focus.
Initially, the situation was:
+++ -----
then they began to move:
- +++ ----
- +++
--- +++ -
---- +++ -
- --- +++
And in the program received:
++++++++ I
also went to the region and all the time in command programming. I play CTF, I write all sorts of exploits, I decide the reverse. We in Tomsk have a School for the Young Bezopasnik, a cool team of SiBears teaches us there.
When there are some competitions nearby, we go to Tomsk. If any steep, where to go far, usually collect a lot of people. For example, on Junior InnoCTF in our team was me, two boys from Moscow and a girl from Tula (only because of the Unified State Exam, the girl and I could not go).
People there are different categories decide. I usually take reverse or ppc. If some pwn (binary vulnerabilities there, buffer overflow, row formats), then I solve it, because we don’t have much to do with it. I started practicing in the tenth grade before I started giving it at school, it was interesting.
Alexey : I solved a lot of olympiad problems on the acmp.ru portal, so I’m pretty good at creating complex algorithms for mathematical problems. Verstal websites for myself, on HTML and CSS, understood JS, but I realized that I don’t really like the web, I’m still a designer.
Made simple games on Unity, obviously I know C #. When developing, I most liked to invent an in-game economy. I could sit all day at the computer and set up a system where rewards were given less and less, while increasing the number of similar actions at each level. It helps to tighten the player more and more. I began to notice these concepts when I was still playing MMO.
Vic : I know several programming languages (C ++, Python, Pascal, Java). Basically, the programming experience was only on the pros.
Every year I participate in All-Russian competitions in robotics, various competitions - Robofest, WRO, Junior skills. At Robofest, for example, my team belonged to the category of Advanced, that is, to those who had extensive experience with robots. The task was previously unknown, but it turned out to be approximately as expected. The organization of movement on a given trajectory with the overcoming of various obstacles as barriers and traffic lights. Two attempts were made. In the first we were in the lead, but in the second we lost the first place to the team, whose representatives organized this competition.
Our lyceum team often occupies a leading position. It is frustrating that my diplomas are not taken into account when entering a university, even at ITMO. It's a shame, after all, to spend so much time and effort and not get anything in return. But there were good memories and experience.
Wiki workplace
How do you imagine the world of IT?
Alexey : A huge open hall, where a bunch of people united by a common goal, work for the good of society, making life easier and more fun. Light, beautiful (interior designers have tried), a cup of coffee in your hand, and a laptop screen in front of you, where you can do magic, is not more boring than the one taught at Hogwarts.
Lena : I represent it as a world, where borders are only the limits of the human mind.
Katerina : It's hard to imagine until you see. In any case, there are many opportunities in this world for those who are ready to use them: they learn foreign languages, improve themselves, are genuinely interested in their business and are open to new ideas and projects.
What are your problems and what problems of the world do you want to solve?
Danil: Optimization where possible. Something like better and stronger data compression, which was shown in the series "Silicon Valley", or the development of programs that facilitate the work.
D.M. : There are 100 automated factories in Japan for 300,000 people now. And in Russia for the same 300,000 - three plants. Therefore, I would solve the problem of robotization. Yes, maybe it takes someone a job. But there will be other professions. Just now, people plow at these factories sometimes not for the biggest money, often putting life at risk.
Katerina: Health problems. After all, is it considered? The problem with the environment - at the global level. You can create an international service that will handle waste and so on. And no, not WWF. For example, you can create a map where the centers for the processing of this or that material will be displayed. Of course, there is already something similar, but nevertheless ...
Already have a dream project?
Danil : No. But AI is interesting, or work with big data, or bioengineering, or web programming (in terms of stuffing).
Alexey : Create a game in the MMO genre, where there will be no NPS, and the whole economy will be built on the game of people. Creating a whole world is priceless.
Katerina : Write a book. In general, if we talk about the collective project of a dream: to become the author of the libretto for the musical (the plot already exists). To put a musical in a big city, ideally on Broadway ...
D.M.: Create a neural network that, according to a person’s biometric data, will announce the early stages of cancer. Last summer, I thought what project on a neural network could be done to make it interesting for me, and for people in favor. Then I decided that this would be an X-ray analysis. But nowhere just will not find medical data. Or you can simply write a classifier of diseases - yes, great, the queues in hospitals will decrease.
And here is a problem that does not have a solution yet, and this is always cool, but difficult to do. As Christmas wrote, “The first is harder and easier.”
When they say that in ten years' time no one will need programmers, as now lawyers with economists, what do you think?
D.M. A: Yes, there will be a lot of programmers, I agree with that. Perhaps the demand will diminish, but the professions related to programming will be much more. Take the same AR technology - I believe that in 10-15 years they will be very much used, and programmers will be needed here.
Also in the future, programming will probably not be so unusual anymore - it will be necessary, it will begin to be taught normally in school. This will become a required skill in many positions. Even now I am watching the work of some people and I see that with the help of programming they could spend 8-10 hours less.
Katerina : A very large number of people will be replaced by artificial intelligence. But at the same time the creation of artificial intelligence to be IT-specialists.
Lena: If this happens, much later, in my age will suffice. Yes, and in programming, there is enough creative element so that there is no replacement of a person by a machine. To be able to program well is to have at least some brains. I do not think that the need for thinking people will ever be eliminated.
Danil : The work will become more complex and require greater ability of mind and understanding. Now almost everyone can become a programmer and perform many simple tasks. After 10 years, all those who do not know how to constantly learn and think, understand, solve complex problems, will be hardly needed in this area.
Alexey: I know lawyers who got into that very boom, but at the same time were very fond of their work, and they are provided with work with the head. People just go to study for prestigious and promising professions without being carried away by them. In 10 years there will be a lot of people who have just graduated from the university, and in fact do not know how. Nobody will need them.
Workplace Alexey
If you don’t go, if you don’t like it, if you don’t, it’s impossible - well, is there something else you want to be?
Vic : I do not even consider other options, as I am completely confident in my choice.
Katerina : If I don’t get an IT job, I want to be a writer. Maybe a journalist.
Danil : An analyst.
Alexey : If I get bored, I want to open my cafe, where they will cook the most delicious shawarma in the world.
Which successful people inspire you?
Alexey : Henry Ford
D.M. : Gennady Tourist Korotkevich
Lena : Inspired by people who create non-profit organizations, projects with the aim to benefit people.
Katerina : Writer Natalia Shcherba. From the IT world ... Pavel Durov, I guess. Reggae and indie rock performer Alai Oli is also very inspiring. She founded a fitness project # sect that helped many people. In addition, she brings light and positive to people with her creativity.
Danil : My father.
Where do you want to live and work?
D.M. : Moscow City.
Alexey : Where there is warm there are a lot of interesting people and delicious coffee. I did not think about specific places, but I really like the offices of the largest companies.
Danil : It makes no difference if the conditions are good.
Lena : In St. Petersburg.
Katerina : It is still difficult to guess where I would like to subsequently live. To work, probably, in some large company, like Yandex, Google or VKontakte.
What technology do you think will be the main one in the coming years?
D.M. : If it is in the coming years - AI.
Danil : Bioengineering, AI.
Lena : It seems to me that the AI.
Katerina : Neural networks and artificial intelligence.
Alexey : In the near future, cloud technologies will take a lot on their shoulders. Why keep a bulky and very hot computer at home if you can have one monitor, and make calculations “behind the hill”. In fact, you only need to achieve a small ping and consistently high Internet throughout the world, then cloud technology and bloom. Well, where without the AI, for him definitely the future. Machines have long replaced manual labor, it's time for computers to replace brainwork, leaving people with only the opportunity to engage in creative work and enjoy life.